Good day All

For anyone tiered of watching the World Cup this weekend promise to be a very busy one, so drag yourselves away from the TV and make your way to one or more of these great events.

Reef steamers NPC- Krugersdorp Flying Club - Vintage and Veteran Car Club 23 June 2018 jointly invite everyone for a nostalgic trip With this year’s edition of Vintage Train, Planes, Cars and Bikes.

Potchefstroom charity event fly-in breakfast to raise funds for Ruben.

Ruben Bamberger is 4 years old and was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in March 2018. They immediately started with a standard chemo program. After a month, however, he had to switch to a high risk chemo-plan because he did not respond as well as expected. Ruben is crazy about planes and his dream of a photo shoot with the mechanical birds with the big wings has been brought to our attention. We call on all flying fanatics with open hearts to participate in an initiative to realize a sick boy's dream. Breakfast will be served and all proceeds and donations will go towards Ruben's substantial medical costs.

Anyone, pilots and non-pilots are invited to join us for a fun filled day.

Vintage Aircraft Fly-in Johannesburg Model Aircraft Club.

Using Google Maps, type in “JOMAC entrance” and this will take you to the turn-off onto the sand road which is denoted by a JOMAC sign, and the back of a “road narrows” triangle, both on the other side of the road.

The road runs parallel to the R114, into the valley and across the river. The buildings of the Northern Farms Food Empowerment Zone are on your right. Notification of this, is displayed on a yellow and white signboard. The JOMAC windsock and thatch roofs are clearly visible, above the farm buildings, at this point. Keeping right, drive up the hill, and turn right into the trees. Follow the road, which tracks the palisade fence for a further 1,5 kilometres, arriving at JOMAC.

South African Hot Air Balloon Championships 2018 will be held at Skeerpoort North West Province. From the 24 to the 28 June 2018

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Race for Rhinos will be kicking off on Thursday 28 June by now all the teams should have registered and it’s all systems go for one of the greatest aviation events on the African Continent. We will be reporting from Sua Pan over the two days of racing.

Grounded SA Express scrambling to pay June salaries

SA Express might not be able to pay its staff on June 25, the Federation of Unions of South Africa said.

The federation issued a statement on Monday, indicating that acting CEO Matsietsi Mokholo had informed staff that salaries might not be paid later this month.

Fedusa said it would appeal to Public Enterprise Minister Pravin Gordhan to provide emergency funding for the salaries.

Cash-strapped SA Express was recently grounded by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) due to non-compliance with 17 findings related to safety management processes. Sacaa spokesperson Kabelo Ledwaba previously told Fin24 that it would assist the airline in reapplying for certification but the process could be lengthy.

“The airline can confirm continuous engagements between labour and employees, where management sensitised the concerned parties to the challenges facing the airline as well as the potential risks pertaining to the payment of salaries for the month of June,” said SA Express spokesperson Refilwe Masemola.

Masemola added that both the airline’s management and board were “tirelessly” exploring various alternatives to ensure the payment of staff salaries on June 25.

Fedusa general secretary Dennis George believes that the situation the airline is facing is not “unfixable”.

In the Fedusa statement, he asked Gordhan to intervene in the matter. “We must also emphasise that the government as shareholder is duly accountable and has actually made itself guilty of being an absent landlord, allowing for mediocrity in governance to exist and thrive.

“We beseech your office honourable minister, to act with haste and decisiveness in this crisis and ensure that at the very least, staff is paid,” said George.

At a briefing in May Gordhan announced sweeping changes at boards of various public entities, SA Express included. "SA Express has been in dire straits for some time, it is an indication of the malfeasance at SA Express."He said that SA Express had found itself in a struggling position due to a lack of good governance.

Bell and Safran Collaborate on Air-Taxi Concept

At the Future of Transportation World Conference, which takes place this week in Köln-Messe, Germany, Bell Helicopter and Safran announced they are collaborating on a VTOL aircraft for the air-taxi market.

The futuristic-looking VTOL concept will be designed, developed and produced by Bell, while the hybrid electric power system will be developed by Safran.

“Thanks to the long and sustained technology-development strategy conducted within the Safran group, we can now offer Bell our hybrid electric power solutions for their next generation products that result in improved performance giving more value to our customers,” said Safran’s senior executive vice president of R&T and innovation, Stéphane Cueille.

What that power plant might look like remains to be seen. While a conceptual cabin mock-up has already been designed by Bell, it does not show whether the VTOL will be elevated by a traditional helicopter rotor or some other source of lift. The mock-up of the VTOL was first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

WWF calls on airline industry to help stop the trafficking of wildlife

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has called on airlines and airports to work together to stop widespread wildlife trafficking.

“Wildlife trafficking is a global challenge. The very existence of wildlife is being threatened,” WWF private sector engagement team director Afsoon Namini, told delegates at the AviaDev conference, in Cape Town, this week.

“It is putting pressure on vulnerable species. The safety and health of passengers and staff as well as the public are also being compromised.”

Namini said transport routes between Africa and Asia were particularly fraught with illegal trafficking of everything from rhino horn to reptiles and birds. Illegal trafficking of wildlife was also linked to other crime. “This trafficking doesn’t exist in a vacuum, putting companies and countries at risk. If wildlife is being trafficked, chances are that other illegal goods are being trafficked too.”

The WWF director outlined the scale and impact of illegal wildlife trafficking. “About 55 elephants are killed every day for their ivory. A rhino is killed every eight hours for its horn. About 317 000 live birds are trafficked annually. A ranger is killed in the line of duty, on average, every three days.”

Namini, who travelled from the US to give her presentation to the conference, called on companies to train staff to safely detect and respond to instances of wildlife trafficking. She suggested airports and airlines have a whistleblower policy so that people aren’t afraid or wary of reporting incidents.

“We need to create an industry shift where airline staff know how to detect and report wildlife crime. Companies need to create standard reporting processes so that staff know who to alert if they suspect something.”

She said airlines should share their success stories with customers and raise awareness of trafficking.

“Taking action against wildlife crime is commendable. Share the great work you're doing with your customers in in-flight magazines and in other ways.”

Namini said airlines should incorporate counter wildlife trafficking policies and advocate among their peers and supply chains.

“Illegal wildlife trafficking is a business reputational risk. The possibility of negative press and reports can hurt your brand. Negative publicity can also lead to reduced wildlife populations affecting tourism revenue.”

The WWF is a key partner in the Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) partnership funded by USAID. The partnerships bring together government agencies, companies in the logistics industry and international conservation, development and law enforcement organisations, and donors, in a bid to disrupt wildlife trafficking.

Wildlife traffickers exploit the increasing connectivity of global transportation, online markets and gaps in law enforcement to traffic live and dead animals and products.

Namini explained that ROUTES worked to disrupt wildlife trafficking along transportation supply chains through improved data analytics, engaging corporate leaders, training transport personal, strengthening policies and increasing client awareness.